How often do you use Facebook Chat, the buggy IM service? If the answer is "hardly ever," then do you think you'd be keen on video-chatting, calling or SMSing with them through Skype instead?

According to Kara Swisher at AllThingsD, Facebook and Skype are close to announcing a deal which would see Skype accounts integrated with Facebook Connect, meaning Facebook friends could voice-chat, SMS or even video call one another from their Skype accounts.

Supposedly we'll be seeing it go live in a couple of weeks when the Skype 5.0 beta goes full-thrust (which we already know brings 10-person video-calling for Windows), but for now it's not known whether Facebook Connect will be visible just on the desktop platform, or through phones as well. [AllThingsD]